Written by

@kevinpentonAPP

NEPTUNE — For weeks, Christopher Centrella worked on gathering gifts for a holiday project involving children who are patients at Jersey Shore University Medical Center.

Unfortunately, Centrella’s foresight coincided with superstorm Sandy, which destroyed his family’s Brielle home and many of its contents, including the gifts.

Despite his personal loss, Centrella, 14, reached out to friends and family members and restocked the cache of gifts, which volunteers wrapped on Monday.

“It was definitely worth the effort,” said Centrella, a freshman at Christian Brothers Academy in Middletown.

Rather than simply receive the gifts, Centrella collected items that children at the hospital will pick out and give as presents to their loved ones.

“We want to make them feel like it’s a normal holiday season,” said Centrella, who organized the project as part of a community service requirement for his school.

The hospital hopes Centrella’s efforts will become an annual tradition, said William F. Faverzani, corporate director of the children’s service line at K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital, which is housed within the medical center.

“It’s just a wonderful concept,” Faverzani said.

One of the first children to choose gifts was 12-year-old Curran Magnusson, who is in the hospital as doctors try to determine the source of his persistent stomach pains.

Magnusson picked out a candle for his mother, Barbara, and a watch for his father, Kyle, along with other gifts for several of his siblings.

“This is really nice,” said Curran Magnusson, as a volunteer wrapped the presents he chose. “I might not have been able to get presents from the store otherwise.”

Centrella’s mother, Lori, said she suspects they will need to demolish their home and rebuild. In the interim, the family is living in Manasquan, she said.

Magnusson’s parents, who opened their presents on Monday, thanked Centrella for working on the project despite his own personal hardship.

“There’s a lot of people who are going to be really touched by what you’re doing,” Kyle Magnusson told Centrella.